Song, by Toad

Coming back from holidays is traditonally a bit more rough than I had realised.  Apparently post-holiday blues is a common phenomenon, but this is the first time I’ve really experienced it before.  I’ve been really fucking down this week for some reason – probably the hot weather outside and the realisation that I can only take another day and a half of holiday for the rest of the year.  That’s fucking annoying, that is.  I have no damn idea where it’s all gone, honestly.  I’ve taken stray days here and there to go to London to speak to Sony, to interview Jason Lytle and a week or so for Toad Session recording and Homegame. Add that to our two weeks in Italy and that’s pretty much my lot for the year.  That means the entire last half of the year without a single long weekend, a day off or anything at all.  How fucking depressing.  Jesus.

In, um, other news… er, I am preparing the release PR for another half dozen or so Toad Records releases at the moment, and then Mrs. Toad is away for two weeks, during which I intend to finish up and post the Found Toad Session.  So much to do, as usual, and I think two weeks is going to be the longest we’ve been apart since I moved up here four years ago.  I’m not sure I even remember how to properly indulge in coke and whores any more, and the idea of going out and picking up flaky young hussies while I have the chance… well, it doesn’t sound terribly appealing I have to confess.  So it’s gin and tonics with a jar of pickles and tin of anchovies whilst sitting at the computer in my underpants as usual, I suppose.  Maybe I’ll go wild this time, and indulge in some pickled onions.

So, in a dismal funk this Friday, please to stop in and try and cheer me up by saying something fun or entertaining or bizarre or something like that.  Don’t sit out there and lurk like the sulky bastard I have turned into this week, consider it your public service duty to come out of hiding and chip in this week.  You know you’ve got it in you.  You can start with Nigaz.

1. Where was your last holiday?
2. What is your next one?
3. Name something which really cheered you up recently.
4. Favourite accidentally naughty name.  You know, like therapistfinder.com
5. Your worst ever excuse for feeling a bit sulky.

Gummi Bako – I’m Depressed

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Tom Waits – Town With No Cheer

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Oh, alright, I’ll pack it in.
Eels – Mr. E’s Beautiful Blues

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MJ Hibbett & the Validators – Being Happy Doesn’t Make You Stupid

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The Divine Comedy – The Happy Goth

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The 28th Toadcast is all about the Fence Collective. People who read this site regularly must know them, I assume, but I’ve been intending to do this post for a while as they might be my favourite label in music at the moment.

After Kenny Anderson’s last band fell apart about ten years ago or more, he started releasing his own stuff on hand made CD-Rs under the name of King Creosote and between him and his brothers and some of the other local musicians he’d grown up with in Fife, a collective started to form which has grown and grown. Now, thanks to the spotlight cast their direction by Kenny’s brother Gordon’s involvement with The Beta Band and The Aliens, the success of King Creosote and James Yorkston, and the rising of KT Tunstall (also a Fence alumnus, believe it or not) Fence Records have turned into one of the most beloved record labels in the country.

And actually, I think their approach of building a community rather than just pimping product might just have the potential to make them one of the success stories of Music 2.0, although that’s another story. So this podcast is all about Fence Records and the bands I have discovered due to their hard work, and why I think they’re great. What an arse-kisser I’ve turned into.

(Warning: I’m drunker than I sound and there is way too much talking in this one.)

Toadcast #28 – The Fencecast

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01. Skuobhie Dubh Orchestra – Our Last Needle (03.17)
02. King Creosote – You’ve No Clue Do You (09.21)
03. James Yorkston & the Athletes – St. Patrick (16.33)
04. Art Pedro – Joanne (21.19)
05. MC Quake – It Feels Good to Be In Scotland (27.57)
06. Down the Tiny Steps – Handstand (36.44)
07. Adam Beattie – Bank Street (46.39)
08. Player Piano – Mercy (AC Mix) (49.35)
09. Candythief – A Good Day (56.47)
10. Rob St. John – Tipping In (60.06)
11. Adrian Crowley – Star of the Harbour (65.11)
12. Eagleowl – This is Not Your Lucky Day (67.47)
13. OLO Worms – Fingers & Thumbs (77.04)
14. HMS Ginafore – You Built a City Inside of Me (85.41)
15. Gummi Bako – She’s the Carrot & I’m the Stick (87.44)
16. The Pictish Trail – Words Fail Me Now (94.39)
17. Rich Amino – Chicken & Chips (99.02)
18. Sara Lowes – Uniform Days (104.22)
19. Magic Arm – Outdoor Games (108.11)
20. King Creosote – I’ll Fly By the Seat of My Pants (115.32)

Yes, Gummi Bako. Nuts he may be, but he can certainly write music. If you’ve ever seen him live, then you’ll know that during performances Mr. Bako has the habit of morphing into something akin to Beeker from the Muppet Show with ten thousand volts coursing through him. There’s a sort of deranged, wild-eyed squawk that makes an appearance from time to time and can be, for the first little while, rather terrifying.

I first saw a Gummi Bako solo slot at last year’s Homegame and although I thought he was nuts, there was something oddly compelling about the music, and certainly the performance. The full band performed at the recent Fence Night at The Caves in Edinburgh and although the oddness was still there, it was a slightly less prominent due to the presence of guitars, which resulted in a rock ‘n’ roll performance that was a little easier to grasp. Then he played again this year, again a largely solo set, with Elle and Uncle Beesly joining him on bass and guitar respectively and some splendid washboard percussion. Something strange was happening to me; I was really starting to like this stuff. The weirdness just seemed to melt into the music and the whole thing was making sense all of sudden. Don’t ask me how this happened, but I blame some sort of wicked Fife spell myself.

Anyhow, on his page on the Fence site Gummi Bako is described as wonky-tonk, and I think that fits pretty perfectly. There are a couple of CDs, amongst other things, available on his site, and I can definitely recommend Sticky Wicket as a good place to start, although there’s a new single out soon too. Sticky Wicket is a much more straight-up pop record than I would have expected, and although at times you may find some of the eccentricities a little odd, that will fade and you will left with a really good record. Well it’s taken me a little time, but I’ve got there eventually.

Gummi Bako – Underground
Gummi Bako – She’s the Carrot
website | myspace | fence records